Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman. Slayer rose to mainstream fame with their 1986 release Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax. Slayer's sales are in the estimated high 20 millions, although they have never publicly announced their sales worldwide. However, between the years 1991 and 2004, Slayer sold over 3.5 million albums in the U.S. Slayer's musical style involves fast tremolo picking, double bass drumming, riffs in irregular scales and shouted vocals. In the original line-up, King, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and guitarist Jeff Hanneman contributed to the band's lyrics, and most of the band's music was created and arranged by King and Hanneman, with additional help from drummer Dave Lombardo and sometimes Araya. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as serial killers, necrophilia, Satanism, religion, anti-religion and warfare, have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and criticism from religious groups and the public. Their music has been highly influential, often being cited by many bands as an influence musically, visually and lyrically. Since their debut album in 1983, the band has released two live albums, one box set, six videos, two extended plays, a covers album and ten studio albums, four of which have received gold certification in the United States. The band has received five Grammy nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song "Eyes of the Insane", and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six" (both from 2006's Christ Illusion). Slayer has played music festivals worldwide, including Unholy Alliance, Download and Ozzfest. Style & Influences Early works were praised for their "breakneck speed and instrumental prowess," combining the structure of hardcore tempos and speed metal the band released fast, aggressive material. The album Reign in Blood is the band's fastest, performed at an average of 220 beats per minute. The album Diabolus in Musica was the band's first with drop D tuning, God Hates Us All the first with C# tuning. Allmusic cited the album as "abandoning the extravagances and accessibility of their late-'80s/early-'90s work and returning to perfect the raw approach," with some fans labeling it nu metal. Hanneman and King's dual guitar solos have been called "wildly chaotic," and "twisted genius." Original Drummer Lombardo would use two bass drums, instead of the double kick which is used on a single bass drum. Lombardo's speed and aggression earned him the title of the "godfather of double bass" by Drummerworld. Lombardo stated his reasons for using two bass drums: "When you hit the bass drum the head is still resonating. When you hit it in the same place right after that you kinda get a 'slapback' from the bass drum head hitting the other pedal. You're not letting them breathe." When playing the double bass Lombardo uses the "heel-up" technique. In the original lineup, Hanneman, King and Araya contributed to the band's lyrics, and King and Hanneman created and arranged the music with additional arrangement from Lombardo and sometimes Araya. "Final Six" (from Christ Illusion) is the only song by Slayer which Araya co-wrote the music for, whereas Lombardo did not receive any writing credits in Slayer's history. Araya formed a lyric writing partnership with Hanneman, which sometimes overshadowed the creative input of King. Hanneman stated that writing lyrics and music was a "free for all"; "It's all just whoever comes up with what. Sometimes I'll be more on a roll and I'll have more stuff, same with Kerry— it's whoever's hot, really. Anybody can write anything; if it's good we use it, if not we don't." When writing new material, the band writes the music before incorporating lyrics. King or Hanneman used a 24-track and drum machine to show band members the riff they created, and to get their opinion. Either King, Hanneman or Lombardo mentioned if any alterations could be made. The band played the riff to get the basic song structure, and figured out where the lyrics and solos would be placed. Hanneman, King and Araya tended to have different lyrical influences. Hanneman's lyrics dealt with Nazis, religion, warfare and similar topics. King's lyrics are generally anti-religious. Araya's lyrics usually deal with less controversial topics than Hanneman's and King's, such as serial killers and warfare. Personal Rating Yet another legend of Metal. One simply cannot deny Slayer. 10/10.